I nod. “I tracked her down, left her a phone at the strip club she worked in, tried to move her in with me and Summer in secret, but she was too scared to do it and then she disappeared about five years ago, maybe longer. I honestly thought she was dead, thought those assholes killed her but I kept her phone on this whole time because I still had hope that... that she was still out there somewhere, but I haven’t heard from her until now.”
He kisses my forehead and wraps me in a hug I so desperately need. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t talk about Tate. There were times I wasn’t even sure my memories were real, times that I wondered if the little girl that followed me around everywhere and snuck into my bed when she had nightmares, the little girl that called me Dori was a figment of my imagination, a manifestation of bone deep loneliness. My mother never talked about her after Tate disappeared and neither did I, and once I found her and who she was stuck with, I thought it was best to keep things that way for her sake.”
Zak cups my cheeks, kisses my lips and puts his game face on. “What do you need from me, honey?”
“Forever.” I smile up at him through my tears. “And I need you to cancel with Prez, borrow Spider’s SUV, borrow Spider and Jackal too for that matter, then I need you to keep me as calm as possible while we go to the airport to pick up my baby sister.”
“Done.” One more sweet kiss. “All of it, forever included.”
Oh my god, I love this man.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
THEO
I squeezeZak’s hand tighter as I bounce on the balls of my feet, searching the throngs of people in Denver International with so much anxiety I feel like I’m going to vibrate across the floor.
Spider, my decidedly favorite of Zak’s brothers although I really can’t pick just one, has been rubbing my back ever since we walked in while Jackal has been trying like hell to make me laugh or get me out of my head in between texts exchanged with Summer and Jolie.
They didn’t even bat an eye when Zak called them, just jumped in Spider’s Yukon and came to pick us up. I cried like a baby when I got in and saw two boxes in the third row, a car seat that would cover an infant all the way to toddler and a booster seat, brand new and thoughtful as hell since I didn’t even think to ask Tate anything about who she was bringing with her. There were snacks and water, coats and blankets, anything to make them more comfortable once they got to Colorado in the middle of December and I hugged those men tight because of it.
Spider said it was Zak’s idea, the extras my sister needed, and while I believe that because he actually blushed a touch before punching both his best friend and his best friend’s cousin, I also believe those two added a few things as well.
Zak even went as far as to start looking for a permanent living arrangement for Tate. She’s staying with us tonight, maybe forever if I can’t stop hugging her after I start, but my amazing boyfriend is already on the prowl for a place within club territory where she can be protected without being overwhelmed, safe without feeling smothered, and for that he’s getting a blowjob as soon as we’re alone. Hell, after everything he and his brothers are doing, I might let him try putting his huge dick in my not so huge butt tonight.
“What’s she look like again?” Spider asks as he looks from a much higher vantage point than I can. Zak is enormous, wider than Jackal, who is taller than Zak by about an inch or two, but Spider is six-foot-seven and three quarters, so he can seeeverything.
I chew my lip, my eyes bouncing around the terminal. “Nothing like me. I can’t speak to how she’ll look now; it’s been so long since I’ve seen Tate. Her hair is dark like Zak, but it has an almost purple tint, like blackberries and it’s very curly. At least it was. We were young when she was taken, but I could tell Tate was going to be taller than me, curvier probably too. Her eyes are hazel, but you don’t know it until you’re up close, far away they look black, like there’s no color at all. We have the same complexion though, fair skin with freckles and our noses are the same. I think. I don’t know, my memories are so fuzzy and—“
“She have a scar above her right eyebrow when you were kids?”
“Yes!” The memory slams to the forefront of my mind, starts playing like a movie on the big screen. “She got it when I was trying to teach her to ride her bike without training wheels. Went sailing right over her handlebars.” I smile at the thought of her curly pigtails, skinned knees and semi-toothless smile, then almost break Zak’s hand. “Wait, do you see her?”
Spider nods as Jackal joins him and the room tilts.
Oh my god.
Oh my god I’m going to pass out.
I’ve had this escape plan for Tate basically since I discovered her potential whereabouts in New York, but I never thought much about what would happen if I found her,actuallyfucking found her and had the chance to do something about it. Definitely didn’t account for feeling like I’m going to pass out.
“Hey.” Zak’s forehead is against my temple, his nose against my cheek. “This is a good thing, Blondie. Stay calm. Take a deep breath. I’ve got you, honey.”
I do as he says, take a deep breath and loosen my grip on his hand but don’t let go. He’s my anchor, my rock, my unshakable foundation in the middle of a raging storm.
Me.
I’m the storm, the tornado.
But Zak is the calm before, during, and after.
He’s mine and I could not love him more than I do at this moment.
“She’s looking for you, Blondie,” Spider says, his eyes still locked on Tate, hopefully.
Without warning, Zak kisses my cheek, grabs my hips and hoists me in the air so I’m sitting on his shoulder and eye level with Spider.
